Sanders says bias behind gay-marriage ban

S.D. mayor testifies about own past prejudice at trial

JERRY SANDERS TIMELINE

2005: He runs for mayor as a supporter of civil unions for gay couples.

2007: In a tearful news conference, he declares he has changed his mind and signs a city resolution in support of same-sex marriage.

2008: He makes public appearances against Proposition 8, a state initiative banning same-sex marriage that later wins voter approval.

Yesterday: He testifies in federal court that opponents of same-sex marriage make the decision “based on prejudice.”

FROM THE ARCHIVES

Anyone who thought San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders would eventually appease Republican supporters by piping down about his support of same-sex marriage doesn’t know the former police chief very well.

Sanders continued his push for same-sex marriage by testifying yesterday in San Francisco in the first federal trial to examine whether denying gays and lesbians the right to wed violates their constitutional rights.

“I don’t think it should be unusual for a Republican or a police chief to stick up for people who have somehow had their rights taken away or are being treated unequally,” Sanders said afterward. “And once I came to that decision, that people were being treated unequally, I would be very hesitant to back off of that decision.”

Sanders has been a prominent figure in the gay-rights movement since his tearful announcement in September 2007 that he would abandon his previous stance and support marriage for same-sex couples. The news conference, in which the mayor broke down several times while talking about his lesbian daughter, Lisa, became a YouTube sensation.

The decision brought Sanders adulation from the gay community but scorn from the Republican Party as he faced re-election nine months later. He was re-elected handily, and yesterday The New Yorker dubbed him “A Conservative Voice for Gay Marriage.”

The reaction to his testimony also was divided, as gay-rights advocates praised Sanders’ courage and leadership while opponents dismissed his remarks as an emotional plea that would have no bearing on the case.

“His testimony is powerful,” said Cleve Jones, a longtime gay-rights activist who lives in Palm Springs. “When he reversed his decision, frankly, I was moved to tears by it. I was moved by the love he has for his daughter.”

Brad Dacus, an attorney and president of Sacramento-based Pacific Justice Institute, a nonprofit legal defense group that specializes in religious freedom and civil liberties, said the court likely wouldn’t be swayed by Sanders’ personal story.

“In no way do I minimize the personal feelings of the mayor or his experiences, but I just have severe questions of the material relevance to the legal questions being addressed by the court,” Dacus said. “If the court is handling this case in the way I hope they will, premised on the legal issues, then it shouldn’t have much weight.”

In 90 minutes of testimony, Sanders said he believed that all support for a gay-marriage ban is based on prejudice — a key point that pro-gay-marriage lawyers hope to prove to strike down 2008’s Proposition 8 as unconstitutional.

Sanders, 59, said he first began changing his views on gays in the 1970s when a police sergeant in his San Diego squad told colleagues that he was homosexual. The sergeant left the department a couple of months later because of the negative reaction he received, Sanders said.

The mayor also described how his daughter told him she was a lesbian as a sophomore in college in 2003.

Four years later, Sanders was faced with a dilemma. The City Council passed a resolution in support of same-sex marriage in a case then being decided by the state Supreme Court. He either had to veto it — to follow through on his stance while running for office — or sign it.

Sanders told the court he realized he had been wrong to back civil unions.

“I had been prejudiced,” said Sanders, whose travel was funded by the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office, which asked him to testify. “I was saying one group of people did not deserve the same respect, did not deserve the same symbolism of marriage, and I was saying their marriages were less important than those of heterosexuals.”

Fred Sainz, the mayor’s former spokesman, recalled yesterday the struggle Sanders had with changing his stance as campaign supporters told him to veto the resolution.

“If anybody doubts that he’s a man of conscience, they need to think twice,” said Sainz, now a spokesman for a Denver-based nonprofit that supports gay causes. “We should all be so lucky to have a champion like Jerry Sanders.”

Not everyone agrees with Sanders’ choice to become a spokesman on the issue.

County Republican Party Chairman Tony Krvaric said the party still believes that marriage should be between a man and a woman and that Sanders should focus on the city’s financial woes.

“This is really a waste of time,” Krvaric said. “We have serious financial problems here in San Diego. I look forward to the mayor focusing on that and not getting distracted by peripheral issues.”

Geoffrey Kors, executive director of Equality California, said the role Sanders has played in supporting same-sex marriage won’t be forgotten anytime soon.

“They’re going to remember him as a father and a politician who put the rights of all his constituents ahead of partisan politics, and who, as a father, was willing to put his family and his story out there to help change the hearts and minds of other people,” Kors said. “That’s one of the most powerful things anyone can do.”